The Rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada

But First..A Review The Constitutional Act of 1791 Created Upper and Lower Canada Upper Canada was predominately English Speaking Lower Canada was predominately French Speaking Gave British North America Representative Government

How Does Representative Government Work? You are part of a community/village/city filled with people who want a say in what laws are passed and how your community/village/city is run.

How Does Representative Government Work? Everyone in your community/village/ city vote, and elect a Representative to be apart of the government to help makes laws and decisions on your behalf.

How Does Representative Government Work? Sounds pretty good, yes?

How did Representative Government work in the Colonies of British North America? GOVERNOR (Appointed by Britain) Made up of English Speakers in Upper & Lower Canada Executive Council (Appointed by Governor) Legislative Council (Appointed by Governor) Made up mostly of English Speakers in Upper Canada Mostly French Speakers in Lower Canada Legislative Assembly (Elected by Voters) Voters

How did Representative Government work in the Colonies? Each colony in B.N.A had this form of Government Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, P.E.I, and New Brunswick The governor had ultimate say in what laws were passed Equivalent to a modern day Premier or Prime Minister

How did Representative Government work in the Colonies? Based on this chart, who do you think the Governor is more likely to listen to? Britain or the Legislative Assembly/Citizen voters? What about the Executive and Legislative Council?

How did Representative Government work in the Colonies? Even though the Legislative Assembly was elected, it had very little real power. The two councils (Executive and Legislative) were often made up of English speaking friends or family of the governor. They were known as Chateau Clique in Lower Canada Family Compact in Upper Canada

How did Representative Government work in the Colonies? Many colonists believed it was unfair to have a Governor, chosen by Britain, controlling affairs in British North America. By 1830, colonists in both Upper and Lower Canada had enough of this system!

Rebellion in Lower Canada

Rebellion in Lower Canada In 1834, a man named Louis-Joseph Papineau lead a group of radicals called Patriotes. They presented the legislative assembly with 92 Resolutions calling for change in government

Rebellion in Lower Canada In 1837 (3 years later), the British government rejected ALL 92 resolutions. Papineau travelled throughout Lower Canada and urged the colonists to take up arms.

Rebellion in Lower Canada Fighting broke out in November, 1837. However the British army was too powerful and the uprising was quickly crushed after a few months, with Papineau fleeing to the United States.

Rebellion in Upper Canada

Rebellions in Upper Canada In Upper Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie lead his own group of reformers and issued The Seventh Report on Grievances to the government.

Rebellions in Upper Canada Similar to Lower Canada, the reformers (people seeking change) decided to take up arms On December 5, 1837 Mackenzie led about 700 rebels on a march to overthrow the government!

Rebellions in Upper Canada Unfortunately, just as in Lower Canada, the British forces proved too strong and after a few days, the rebellion was over. Just like Papineau, Mackenzie also fled to the United States.

A Visual of Events..

Failure? So why discuss these events if they were such massive failures?

The Impact of the Rebellions

Impact of the Rebellions Thanks to the rebellions it was clear to the British Government that they needed to create change in B.N.A Britain decided it needed to find out the causes of these rebellions and in 1838 sent Lord Durham to Canada to complete an investigation

Impact of the Rebellions Durham spent 5 months in Canada during which he tried to understand the issues that lead to rebellions. When he returned to England he produced The Durham Report

The Durham Report Lord Durham's report made two main recommendations of change: United Upper and Lower Canada in to single colony Grant the colonies responsible government

The Durham Report Durham blamed the rebellions in Lower Canada on the conflict between French Canadiens and the English speaking colonists. Durham wanted to get rid of the French language in Lower Canada by uniting the two colonies of Upper and Lower Canada. Hoping that the British society would eventually absorb the Canadiens Sound familiar?

The Act of Union Britain agreed with Lord Durham’s plans and in 1841 passed the Act of Union which created a single colony of Canada with two provinces: Lower Canada became Canada East Upper Canada became Canada West English became the official language of the government for this colony How do you think the Canadiens reacted to this?

From Representative to Responsible Government

From Representative to Responsible Government Remember this?

From Representative to Responsible Government In responsible government voters still elect “representatives” to a legislative assembly. However, now the governor must follow the wishes of the assembly (and thus the voters); not the British government who gave him power. This form of government helps to keep the governors power in check AKA keeping him acting “responsibly”

(Still Appointed by Britain) GOVERNOR (Still Appointed by Britain) Executive Council (Still Appointed by Governor) Legislative Council (Still Appointed by Governor) Legislative Assembly (Still Elected by Voters) Now has much more power and control in decisions of government Voters

Think it Through Answer the following questions in the space provided on your notes sheet How was each of the changes from the Durham Report an honest attempt to resolve the issue? Do you agree with how they tried to solve the problems? Why or why not?